Quoted in Leslie Berestein Rojas’ article for KPCC 89.3 on 3 July

Not all parents are aware of the “permiso” rumor. Elizabeth Kennedy, a Fulbright scholar and postdoctoral candidate, has been studying child migrants in El Salvador, interviewing youths deported to El Salvador from Mexico and their families. Out of more than 400 families she interviewed before the beginning of June, she said, only 16 mentioned the possibility of special treatment for minor children.

As for families aware of recent federal policies like Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, criticized by some Republicans as adding fuel to the rumor mill, Kennedy said there was only one she encountered. She said that ironically, she’s come across more families talking about a “permiso” and special treatment for minors since President Obama addressed the issue as a humanitarian crisis in early June.

“Are family members, coyotes, guias, saying that children might have an easier route once they arrive in the US? Probably they are,” Kennedy said by phone. “But at the end of the day, they would not agree for their children to go on these incredible, dangerous journeys that they themselves took – they know what their children are risking, the children know what they are risking – they would not take them if they were not incredibly desperate.”